Never Tell Ada
by Copper Tragic
Summary: Elrohir accidentally breaks a window, and suffers the consequences doubly when Legolas fails to follow through on his word. Some moral value, but not much


Disclaimer: I do not own Lord of the Rings or any recognizable characters and/or places thereof  
  
*****  
  
One particular rainy day in Imladris, three young Elflings hurried through the hallway, giggling as they went. Elladan and Legolas extended their arms, ech to keep the other back, hoping to catch Elrohir themselves. Elrohir ran in front of his friend and brother, laughing hardest of all, maintaining careful control of the ball between his feet. Hardly the competitive type, Elrohir was in that sort of mood today--he felt pent-up, as though something in him was ready to just pop.  
  
Legolas had been visiting his friends, the twins, for nearly a week, and the entire time he had been in Imladris the weather had been naught but rain, rain, rain. The three were not perfect. Any three boys their age kept cooped up indoors for that long would naturally be exuberant--and exuberance can cause accidents.  
  
"I am going to get you, Elrohir, then we shall see who bests who!" Legolas jeered as he tripped over Elladan's arm. Masses of blonde hair with natural dark streaks flew into his face. Legolas quickly pushed this hair aside, thinking that perhaps that was why ponytail-wearing Elrohir kept such a lead.  
  
"Ha, yes, when the skies part over all of Arda and Iluvatar aids you!" Elrohir returned. Just then Legolas reached out to Elrohir as Elladan put on a burst of speed, and Elladan came crashing to the ground. "Are you all ri--" Elrohir began to ask, turning, but he got no farther. The deafening roar of shattering glass interrupted him.  
  
All three boys winced as the door to the library, just ahead of them, was thrown open. The storm raging outside poured in through the broken window. "What in all the realms of the Valar--" demanded one rather disgruntled Glorfindel, stepping out into the hall. "Boys, your adar and I have important work to do."  
  
"We're sorry, Glorfindel," the twins chorused, hoping he would be too angry to notice the broken window.  
  
"Just keep the noise down, all right?"  
  
"Yes, Glorfindel." By now Legolas had caught on, and his voice, too, chimed with the twins'. It was their luck that Glorfindel disappeared back into the library with only one more disapproving look. "Yes, Glorfindel," Legolas mimicked, making a rather ugly face.  
  
"The window," Elladan said, distracting the others before they got off on a tangent. Much as they loved Glorfindel, he had been just as agitated as they the past few weeks. Perhaps having to be incarcerated with three rowdy boys was not the best thing for him. . .?  
  
The three knelt, looking at the fragments of glass that had not flown outside. They all got decently wet as the fingered the thick edges of the broken pane. "What are we going to do?" Elrohir whispered. "Oh, this is all my fault. . .I really am sorry."  
  
"Calm up and help us think of a solution," Elladan returned, not angry but certainly not about to waste a good mind on moping when they needed a solution.  
  
"We could get a pane from another window," suggested Legolas, an idea that was met with one rather loudly whispered negation and one shove. "Ouch," said he, rubbing his arm where Elladan had shoved him.  
  
"Well, fixing it is out of the question, most of the glass is outside."  
  
"Should we not just tell Lord Elrond?" asked Legolas, again met with negations.  
  
"Ada would be so angry," Elrohir replied, over-enunciating the last two words just for emphasis.  
  
"So angry about what, Elrohir?"  
  
With a collective gasp, the three turned to see Elrond standing just outside the library, watching them. They moved around at once to cover the evidence of the crime as Elladan displayed his talent for story-telling. "We were talking about berries," Elladan invented. "Legolas was saying that he wished there were some alternate manner to carrying them of a pail, and Elrohir suggested using his pockets. But then the staining would be just terrible, wouldn't it, Ada?"  
  
"Aye, that it would," Elrond said. "That window really ought to be closed-- " He moved to shut the window and the guilty boys shuffled away, each suddenly finding the ground of great interest. "Elrohir. . ."  
  
"Why is it always me?" asked the accused.  
  
"Elrohir," Elrond repeated, exasperated.  
  
"Sorry, Ada," he muttered, lowering his face again.  
  
"It was us, too," Legolas ventured in an act of complete self-sacrifice, for he could not stand for his friend to take all the blame for something that he and Elladan both had a hand in. "We all did it."  
  
"But it was Elrohir that broke the window," Elrond replied. He sighed. Trouble for his sons was the last thing he wanted, but what was he to do? They were Elves, yes, and would not get sick, of course, but they were still more than likely to ruin their clothes romping about outside, and the mud made things very slippery--even Elven bones break. "Elrohir, come with me back to the library please."  
  
Elrohir, his face ashen, followed Elrond back into the library without a word. Legolas and Elladan motioned to him, but it did little good. The two accomplices stayed away from the broken glass, once Elladan pulled Legolas away from it--he seemed to enjoy tracing the tiny cracks left in the remnants of the pane.  
  
The door to the library opened, and Elrohir slipped out. "What happened?" Elladan and Legolas asked at once. "What did he say?"  
  
"I have to put books back on the shelves," Elrohir said, "and I have to do them in such a manner as I should never learn! Something about topics. . .then alphabetized within the topic. . .and what's worse, I'm to have it done within four days!"  
  
"Relax," Legolas said. "I know that system, and would be honored to list those books for you in proper fashion."  
  
"Right, and if I helped put them back, then it would only take half so long. That way we can play until the fourth day, and get all the work done then."  
  
"All right," agreed Elrohir, his face brightening already. "Legolas ought to get his bit done earlier--"  
  
"Consider it done," Legolas promised.  
  
The next day, the rain stopped. The sun was barely up before Legolas, Elladan, and Elrohir were spilling outside, content to run about just to stretch their legs and breathe the free air.To their delight, they found the ball that had broken the window. When they came back inside for the midday meal, all three were sufficiently splattered with mud, their clothing and selves turned completely brown as if they were three Golems, not three young Elves.  
  
"Oh, no," said Celebrían with a smile. "You three have another thing coming if you expect to sit at the table looking like that. Baths, all around, and change into clean clothes, then you may eat."  
  
Her orders were carried out exactly. The boys had worked up quite an appetite running about all morning, and scrubbed themselves pink thinking of their meal, which they feared lost if there should be the least speck of mud left on them. When they returned to the dining hall and were proclaimed fit to have a meal, the boys wolfed down their food and prepared to go out again.  
  
"Elrohir," Elrond called after his younger son, the last one out the door. Elrohir paused and took a step back. "Have you gotten to work on those books yet?"  
  
"Oh, yes, Ada," Elrohir promised, "I started making a list of how I would arrange them. No need to worry, I shall be done with them."  
  
"All right. I trust you, Elrohir."  
  
That night, Elrohir fell asleep guiltily knowing that he had lied. The next day, Legolas was abed with a headache all day. It might have been a good day for Elladan and Elrohir to organize the books themselves, but they did not want to learn that confusing system. And so passed the second, and similarly the third, of Elrohir's four days.  
  
Before anyone knew it, the fourth day came. "Legolas, have you that list for me? It really has become urgent now."  
  
"I. . .will have it for you by this afternoon," Legolas swore. But he did not, for the morning was spent creating a kite when Elladan came up with the ingenius idea of attempting to make a kite that could fly high enough to kill birds with it, as every boy around that age will be rather gruesome at times.  
  
All throughout the midday meal Elrohir kicked Legolas, who had not done as he promised. But then, after the meal, the boys had yet to try out their device. They came back in, dirty and tired, as the sun was setting. Not a bird had been injured, but there had been a good lot of fun chasing them, with the "Flying Venom"--Elladan's name.  
  
Elrohir had forgotten about the books, but then Elrond said, "Finished with those books, I suppose, Elrohir?"  
  
"I. . .uh. . . I only have perhaps ten left, nearly done," Elrohir assured him.  
  
"Well, all right," said Elrond, who knew full well that his son had not yet begun the difficult task, but would not interfere. After supper, he made a point of being out of the way, and kept Glorfindel and Celebrían out of the library as well.  
  
Elrohir rushed to the library as soon as his parents were out of sight. He was tired, but had work to do. Quickly, Elrohir pulled down a volume that outlined that organizational process. He was afraid that someone might come across him, and so his attention was only half focused on the book.  
  
Conveniently, Elladan and Legolas were asleep in their beds by this point. Elrohir angrily cursed them, then realized that with his attentions split he should never fully learn the system in time and would be caught out for a liar and a cheat. Eyelids heavy, he returned to the text, putting his full attention to it.  
  
At last Elrohir was ready. The rain was beginning again, and dark had long since set in. By the light of a sole lantern, Elrohir read the title of the books and all that such information, then recorded the books properly. It took him five copies to make the list properly and legibly, and then Elrohir took a quick break from his work as he was unable to wait any longer to relieve himself.  
  
And now a terrible tragedy occurred. The little Elf had opened a window to let some fresh air into the stuffy library, and in his absence a gust of wind blew the list he had so carefully made over towards the window, and the rain got to it. So Elrohir's list was thoroughly soaked and illegible, and he returned to find all his work undone.  
  
For a moment he lamented, then gathered up his earlier notes and composed another final draft. Finally it was time to put those confounded books on the shelves and be done with it!  
  
An hour and a half later, Elrohir blew out his lantern and stumbled out of the library. He tripped and flopped his way to bed, into which he fell unceremoniously. It had taken him all the night, and it was now early morning. Elrohir was, in a way, proud of himself. He had done the task set before him, even though he procrastinated and relied on others who had not come through.  
  
The next morning, Lord Elrond refused to wake his younger son. He had seen the two lists, not to mention the various sheets of notes, the lantern, and the instructional volume. Elrohir's voracity with which he met this impossible task impressed Elrond, even if it was a punishment and came out being very badly done.  
  
At ten thirty, he finally went to his son. "Elrohir?" he asked, laying a hand on the boy's back. Elrohir was draped on the bed, one arm lolling down to the floor, face pressed against the pillow.  
  
"Ada?" Elrohir asked. "'m tired. . ."  
  
"But you have got to wake up now, Elrohir, the day has begun already."  
  
"Did I do the books in the library?" he asked.  
  
"Aye."  
  
Elrohir nodded. "Let me sleep," he pleaded.  
  
"Come on, 'Ro," said Elrond with false enthusiasm, "ready to greet another window--I mean, day?" This had been an honest mistake, but Elrohir groaned and rolled over. "Up and at 'em, 'Ro," Elrond said overly cheerfully, throwing back the coverlet and more or less literally lifting his son out of bed.  
  
"Sleep. . ." Elrohir complained, pulled a somewhat rumpled tunic over his nightshirt without notice.  
  
"I'll leave you to orient yourself in a moment, but first, I just want you to know that your efforts in the library have not gone unnoticed, and I hope you have learned a valuable lesson from this."  
  
"Never tell Ada," Elrohir said under his breath.  
  
"Oh, and Elrohir? E -F- G," Elrond said as if on second thought, then left the room. Elrohir wondered what he meant for a moment, then decided to go on with things as usual as he had no idea.  
  
"No!" Elrohir exclaimed as he jammed his left leg into the right leg of his leggings. Tired people make mistakes. . .even with simple things like the alphabet.  
  
***** 


End file.
